UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- The United Nations has formally welcomed formation of a government in Kinshasa for the long beleaguered, and still suffering, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council Wednesday urged it work immediately with the opposition to resolve unrest that led to the deaths of dozens of people last week.
Ban "calls for an immediate end to the violence and for an investigation, as well as for humanitarian assistance to the victims and their families," said his chief spokeswoman, Michele Montas in a statement she read out to reporters.
The U.N. Mission in the Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC, has reported at least 70 people were killed in several towns in Bas Congo province amid violent clashes following controversial recent local elections.
The mission has deployed two teams to the area to probe the situation and also sent police reinforcements.
Deploring the violence, Ban appealed to the government and the opposition to work together to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The council echoed that call in a statement read to reporters by Ambassador Peter Burian of Slovakia, this month's president of the panel of 15. He did so after a briefing on the DRC by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno.
Burian said council members were particularly concerned the clashes had taken place "at the very time when the new institutions (of government) are being installed and when the country must strive towards peace consolidation and reconstruction."
DRC Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga announced the formation of his government Tuesday, several months after landmark presidential and parliamentary polls were held, the largest and most complex electoral-assistance exercise ever undertaken by the United Nations.
